greengirlz

Summer is moving quickly and we have been feeling very behind...this weekend we filled at least four big yard carts with weeds from the front perennial gardens. We have been focusing on our veggie life. What a relief! It was very hot, muggy and mosquitoeee...but it looks beautiful especially if you squint!

Back in the veggie garden, I was inspecting and tying up the tomatoes. My fear of coming face to face with a tomato worm had just been shared with Sue and what did i see but three chubby green creatures munching mid row.

Not only were the tomato hornworms munching our tomato plants, but they were carrying the larvae of the small braconid wasp, Cotesia congregatus.

"Larvae that hatch from wasp eggs laid on the hornworm feed on the inside of the hornworm until the wasp is ready to pupate. The cocoons appear as white projections protruding from the hornworms body (see photo, left). If such projections are observed, the hornworms should be left in the garden to conserve the beneficial parasitoids. The wasps will kill the hornworms when they emerge from the cocoons and will seek out other hornworms to parasitize."
Thanks...
S.J. Wold-Burkness & W.D. Hutchison
Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota

We harvested our garlic this week from our plot at George and Cathy's. It has been drying in the garage on screens and we are planning on cleaning and trimming it today. We also hope to get our onions out of the ground today. They are much smaller than we expected, but we are happy to have them and will also dry them on the screens on the garage.

It the year anniversary of having chickens on the compound. The Washington County Fair is this week and our first little fluff balls came right from the fair. We will be checking it out again this year later in the week!! Although we have a whole new batch we love them! Another girl has gone broodie letting out a shy screech when we look in on her! So much to do and much to enjoy!